QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.2ml

164 km S of McCarthy, Alaska

Yes. A magnitude 2.2 earthquake was recorded 164 km S of McCarthy, Alaska at 20:33 UTC on 2024-12-16, 18 km deep.

· 18 km deep · released about 60 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.2 (ml)
Depth
18 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest mapped fault
Pamplona fault, 3 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 668 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 3 km (2 mi) from the epicentre. Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 60 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 250,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 16× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 60 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.7 163 km W of Yakutat, Alaska · 22 km SSE of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 162 km WNW of Yakutat, Alaska · 11 km E of this epicentre
  3. 5.8 160 km W of Yakutat, Alaska · 34 km SSE of this epicentre
  4. 5.7 173 km W of Yakutat, Alaska · 45 km S of this epicentre
  5. 5.5 164 km S of McCarthy, Alaska · 9 km E of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 59.9591, -142.7128. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Aftershocks so far

47 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.1 128 km SSE of McCarthy, Alaska
  2. 1.3 134 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  3. 2.3 140 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  4. 1.6 121 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  5. 1.9 120 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  6. 1.5 128 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  7. 2.3 137 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  8. 2.5 139 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  9. 1.8 137 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  10. 2.1 139 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  11. 1.6 123 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  12. 1.6 155 km ESE of Cordova, Alaska
  13. 1.9 126 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  14. 1.8 136 km S of McCarthy, Alaska
  15. 1.5 122 km S of McCarthy, Alaska

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.